Electronic devices include traditional computing devices such as desktop computers, notebook computers, smartphones, wearable devices like a smartwatch, internet servers, and so forth. However, electronic devices also include other types of computing devices such as personal voice assistants, thermostats, automotive electronics, robotics, devices embedded in other machines like refrigerators and industrial tools, medical devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and so forth. These various electronic devices provide services relating to productivity, remote communication, social interaction, security, health and safety, entertainment, transportation, and information dissemination. Thus, electronic devices play crucial roles in many aspects of modern society.
Many of the services provided by electronic devices in today's interconnected world depend at least partly on electronic communications. Electronic communications include, for example, those exchanged between or among different electronic devices using wireless or wired signals that are transmitted over one or more networks, such as the Internet or a cellular network. Electronic communications therefore include both wireless and wired transmissions and receptions. With wireless electronic communications, mobile services can be enjoyed by users of electronic devices. With a smart phone, for example, mobile services can include voice and video calls, social media interactions, messaging, watching movies, sharing videos, performing searches, acquiring map information or navigational instructions, locating friends, transferring money, making reservations or purchasing tickets, obtaining another service like a car ride, monitoring health data, and so forth.
To participate in a wireless electronic communication, an electronic device uses a wireless communication component, such as a wireless transceiver. Electronic communications can therefore be realized by propagating signals between two wireless transceivers at two different electronic devices. For example, using a wireless transmitter, a smart phone can transmit a wireless signal to a base station over an air medium as part of an uplink communication to support mobile services. Using a wireless receiver, the smart phone can receive a wireless signal from the base station via the air medium as part of a downlink communication to enable mobile services. Wireless transceivers, however, consume power, which is limited with a portable or other battery-powered device.
Battery-powered talk-time represents how long a device can, on average, engage in a voice conversation before a battery's energy reserves are depleted. Thus, a longer talk-time is better than a shorter talk-time, and many device manufacturers advertise the rated talk-time of each electronic device. One aspect of a wireless transceiver that consumes power during operation—for both voice calls and other wireless communications—is the amplifier. Amplifiers are used to increase a signal's strength, or amplitude, in many electronic devices. For instance, transmitters in mobile phones may include driver amplifiers and power amplifiers that supply a signal to an antenna during transmission operations and may include low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) that accept a received signal from the antenna during reception operations.
During times of wireless transceiver activity, amplifiers draw an appreciable level of power. This power draw can more quickly deplete the energy contained in a battery of a portable or other battery-powered device. Consequently, electrical engineers and other designers of electronic devices strive to develop amplifiers for wireless transceivers that use less power and that can therefore extend talk-time usage, as well as battery life in general.